Banbury & District Chamber of Commerce is encouraging the town’s businesses to be prepared for
huge population and employment growth within Banbury and Oxfordshire over the next generation.
Analysis by the Chamber of the District’s Local Plan reveals Banbury is set to accommodate at least
an additional 7,000 dwellings and an additional 120 acres of land has been set aside for business use
before 2031. Banbury’s growth will also incorporate exciting town centre developments including
Castle Quay 2, Canalside and at Bolton Road plus other improvements facilitated by the newly
formed Business Improvement District. On a wider scale, and over the longer term to 2050, the
Oxford to Cambridge arc with its new expressway and rail links will aim, the Chamber has uncovered,
to facilitate one million new homes and multiple acres of commercial development land with a
significant proportion of this having to be accommodated in Oxfordshire.
Neil Wild, Chamber Board Member says “with our increasing demand for accessibility, services and
resources within Banbury and across the region we need to ensure the required social and physical
infrastructure is in place to improve this connectivity as the town and region grows.”
On Thursday 22 November the Banbury & District Chamber of Commerce event ‘BCOC Live’ returns
to Banbury Town Hall from 9am and finishing at 2pm. The event is titled, “A Better Connected
Banbury” and is open to businesses and organisations in Banbury and the surrounding area. It is free
to attend and is open to both members and non-members but pre-registration for the event is a
must and can be completed on the events page of our website
Sally Dicketts CBE, Principal at Activate Learning and speaker at the event says “it’s great the
Banbury Chamber are helping the Banbury community focus on connectivity issues and I will be
delighted to be speaking at the event emphasising our role in promoting its value across the region.”
Further enquiries to the Chamber at: bcoc@banburychamber.com
The Chamber is grateful to its sponsors Castle Quay Shopping Centre, Banbury Sound, Wellers
Accountants, Stackers Training, Whitley Stimpson and Norbar Torque Tools for their support,
enabling this to be a no charge event.
Exhibitor packages are also available with opportunities throughout the event for attendees to
peruse the trade stands. Enquiries to bcoc@banburychamber.com
Confirmed speakers and Q&A panel members so far include; Sally Dicketts CBE, Principal at Activate
Learning; Kate Nesbit from Banbury BID; Chris Hipkiss the development director at Cherwell District
Council; Rob Hutt recruitment specialist with Mayday Employment; Nigel Tipple the Chief Exec of
OXLEP and Eric Owens the Assistant Director of Growth and Place at OCC.
This event will run to the following agenda.
9 – 10 am Arrival, coffee, pastries, networking and trade stands
10 – 11 am Connecting People – two speakers followed by panel with audience Q&A
11 – 11.30 am Coffee break with trade stands
11.30 – 12.30 pm Connecting Place – two speakers followed by panel with audience Q&A
12.30 – 2 pm Lunch, networking and trade stands
